1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a tape printing apparatus using a thermal head for printing characters or other images on a tape. This invention particularly relates to a tape printing apparatus that allows any user to install the tape cassette easily and without tape jam.
2. Description of Related Art
Various related art tape printers have been proposed which use a thermal head to print characters and the like on a tape stored in a tape cassette and installed in a tape cassette holder. See, e.g., Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. HEI8-025753.
These compact tape printing apparatus generally use tape cassettes which store tape and ink ribbon. The tape cassette is attached to the tape cassette holder on the tape printing apparatus. The thermal head is provided on a thermal head holding member. The thermal head holding member projects into the tape cassette holder. The tape and ribbon for printing are stored in the tape cassette.
The thermal head holding member may be board-shaped and may be made from any material having suitable mechanical properties, such as, for example, iron. The thermal head holding member is higher than the wall around the tape cassette holder, and its top comes out higher than the surrounding wall of the tape cassette holder.
At the beginning of installation of the tape cassette into the tape cassette holder, the thermal head holding member is initially made to go through a first guide hole of the tape cassette. The first guide hole is surrounded by naked tape (i.e., tape that has been unwound from a spool in the tape cassette) and an arm-shaped part of the tape cassette through which the tape passes.
After that, the tape cassette is brought to its correct position and is held in place by a wall of the tape cassette holder.
Recently, the tape printing apparatus have been designed to be more compact in size. To make the tape printing apparatus more compact, many parts need to be arranged in a very small space. Therefore, various parts are arranged in the space surrounding the thermal print head holding member. For example, a Flexible Flat Cable, hereafter FFC may be used to connect the thermal head and a tape printing control circuit board around the thermal head holding member.
As noted above, when a tape cassette is installed into the tape cassette holder, initially the thermal head holding member is inserted into the first guide hole of the tape cassette. Therefore, when the tape is drawn out from a release part of the tape cassette, there is a danger of the tape catching in the parts arranged around the thermal head holding member. Sometimes, the naked part of the tape is caught in the FFT or another part arranged around the thermal head holding member causing the tape to jam. When the tape is caught on something around the thermal head, tape jam occurs and the tape cassette will be unusable even if there is tape or ribbon left in the tape cassette. This is bad for the environment and not economical.